Traditional Black Currant Jam
Making your own low-sugar blackcurrant jam is surprisingly easy. All you need is just three ingredients: blackcurrants, sugar and, optionally, a dash of pectin. Follow this recipe and see how easy it is to make a jam that will impress your friends and family.
Ingredients
- 4 lb. blackcurrants (1,814 g.)
- 2 lb. sugar (900 g.)
- ¼ tsp. pectin (optional)
Instructions
Preparing the blackcurrants:
- Place blackcurrants in a large pot or a salad spinner. Fill with water and let them soak for 5 minutes to loosen debris and leaves. Rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear.
- Remove all stems and blossom ends from the blackcurrants.
Rendering the blackcurrant juices:
- Place blackcurrants in a pot and add ½ lb. (200 g.) of sugar.
- Mash the berries with a potato masher.
- Cover and let sit for at least 8 hours or overnight to draw out the juices.
Cooking the jam:
- Once rested, put mashed berries together with their rendered juices into a food processor or blender and crush.
- Add one pound (450g) of sugar to the crushed blackcurrants and mix. Reserve the rest of the sugar to be mixed with pectin and added later.
- Optionally, if skipping pectin, add all remaining sugar at once.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
- Skim any foam off the surface.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 25 minutes.
- If using pectin, mix remaining sugar and pectin, then add to the pot.
- Stir vigorously to combine, then cook for 10 minutes.
- Optionally, perform a chilled plate test for desired consistency. Cook 5-10 minutes longer for denser jam.
- Pour hot jam into clean, sterilized canning jars.
- Process jars using your preferred canning method.